[Bugs] #722 UNSP: Better notification for in activity events

[SugarLabs Bugs]

#722: Better notification for in activity events
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    Reporter:  erikos                     |          Owner:  eben       
        Type:  enhancement                |         Status:  new        
    Priority:  Unspecified by Maintainer  |      Milestone:  0.86       
   Component:  design                     |        Version:  Unspecified
    Severity:  Major                      |     Resolution:             
    Keywords:                             |   Distribution:  Unspecified
Status_field:  New                        |  
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Comment(by eben):

 This is an important point, indeed, and critical to notifications in
 general (not just activity notifications). For instance, when a low
 battery warning appears, the battery should likewise have an indication
 that it has something to tell you within the Frame.

 The best suggestion I have at present is some form of the usual rounded-
 rectangle highlight.  I come to this for a number of reasons. First, we
 shouldn't color the entire square behind an icon, since it will appear to
 divide the Frame into chunks, which isn't the intent. It would also
 interfere with the black highlight which appears on rollover.

 My first inclination was to use a gray rounded-rect outline. However, I
 think we should ultimately support keyboard navigation of the Frame, for
 which we intend to use the gray rounded-rect outline throughout the UI,
 which makes that a bad choice. Therefore, the best I can come up with at
 present is a solid white fill instead, which will keep the activity icon
 plainly visible, draw attention to it, differentiate it from the gray fill
 shown on the current selection, and leave area around it for the rollover
 highlight. We could also use this treatment for representing notifications
 in the corners as they appear to, which would ensure that the icon for the
 notification appeared on any color background (if they ever have
 transparency, as designed).

 An alternative worth mentioning is the idea of badging the icon with a
 smaller icon indicating an alert. If we open that door, we could also
 support several types of badges depending on the urgency of the
 notification, and perhaps also open up number badges (for instance, to
 indicate how many messages have passed in the IRC activity since it was
 last focused.).

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Ticket URL: <http://dev.sugarlabs.org/ticket/722#comment:2>
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